After two months, spanning most of China, covering nearly 4,000 kilometers, and passing through five stops impacting nearly ten thousand people, the large-scale KAILAS "Find Rock China" climbing event has recently come to a temporary close. Team members from around the world have now gradually returned to their home countries. They took with them wonderful experiences in China but left behind numerous classic routes developed together with Chinese teammates in various locations—from South China to Southwest China, from Northwest China to Southeast China, from 5.8 to 5.14, from limestone to granite. These fresh, beautiful, and imaginative routes are all waiting to be discovered, experienced, and climbed by climbers everywhere...
Yangshuo Stop
Since the launch of "Find Rock China" in Yangshuo on June 20, within just two short months, this international mixed climbing team, led by team leader TONI, not only deeply experienced the infinite charm of finding and climbing rocks across China but also developed many new routes of varying styles and difficulties in multiple cliff areas including Yangshuo, Leye, Xi’an, Quzhou, and Yingxi. Without a doubt, they are pioneers, trailblazers, as well as practitioners and passionate enthusiasts of Chinese climbing.
Leye Stop
Xi’an Stop
Venturing deep into the rural inland of China to reach those lesser-known cliffs, finding and developing climbing routes is undoubtedly hard work that requires passion. For the route development team of "Find Rock China," none of these seem to be problems. With a limited number of drills, they made multiple round trips to the camp to recharge. When temperatures were too high, they adapted by rotating between different cliffs. When the walls were unfamiliar and challenging, they tried repeatedly. And even the long, almost isolated mountain life could be happily and peacefully endured—because they are truly rock climbers...
Quzhou Stop
Yingxi Stop
Through the efforts and collaboration of the team members, one fresh, interesting, and challenging route after another was developed. These routes are distributed across every cliff the Find Rock team reached—from the Golden Waterbank Cliff in Yangshuo to the Tiankeng in Leye, from Fengyu and Dayu in Xi’an to Liangtoudong in Quzhou, and finally to the mysterious Guanyin Valley in Yingxi. They are truly a world-class climbing team. They not only created classic routes full of difficulty and imagination, but also developed routes suitable for the actual conditions of climbers in various regions, as well as fun routes with distinct personal styles of the developers. There are over 100 such routes in total. It’s especially worth mentioning that at the Yingxi stop, TONI also opened Guangdong’s first-ever 5.14 difficulty route. In short, the routes are so diverse that almost everyone can find something that suits them. For climbers everywhere who have long yearned for more routes to climb and improve on, the arrival of Find Rock China and its activities is truly “a timely help in need”!
Overview of Route Development at the Golden Waterbank Cliff in Yangshuo during the Find Rock China Yangshuo Stop
Overview of Route Development in the Guanyin Valley in Yingxi during the Find Rock China Yingxi Stop
In fact, "Find Rock China" not only brought a rich variety of new routes to the thriving climbing scene across China but also introduced climbing skills and concepts to various regions. More importantly, it brought the new outdoor philosophy of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature and cherishing life. All of these have significantly contributed to the popularization and development of climbing nationwide.
"Those cliffs hidden in the wilderness are the most captivating landscapes in the world, the most spiritual dwellings of nature, and the most desired sacred sites for climbers." Returning from the climbs not only confirmed a belief we’ve long held—that China is one of the countries with the richest cliff resources in the world—but also made us convinced that it can also have the most numerous and widespread climbing community. Although currently, too many of these high-quality cliffs have only been developed to a small extent, we have already started taking action. We’ve been working hard, and this year is a great start.
Some Members of the Find Rock China Route Development Team
After the successful conclusion of the Yingxi stop on August 21, "Find Rock China" will temporarily come to an end. In the future, we will continue the climbing and outdoor philosophy that KAILAS has always upheld and keep the "Find Rock China" event going. We hope it will develop sustainably just like the Unclimbed Peaks Project, continuing to contribute to the promotion and development of climbing in China.
As a professional climbing brand, KAILAS takes it as its mission to "dedicate itself to promoting the development of amateur mountaineering and exploration sports." Since 2003, it has supported public welfare projects including the "KAILAS Outdoor Coaches Growth Program," "KAILAS Climbing Team," and "KAILAS Mountaineering and Exploration School," cultivating a large number of important reserve talents for China’s mountaineering and outdoor sports. Moreover, KAILAS has sponsored various professional outdoor events including mountaineering, climbing, ice climbing, and cross-country challenge races, making significant contributions to the popularization and development of mountaineering and outdoor sports in China.
See you next year at Find Rock China—we’ll be back again. For more updates on Find Rock China, please follow the official KAILAS website or the Find Rock China official Weibo account.